Overview
Lawrence Academy Recognizes Individuality and Inspires Students to Take Responsibility for Who They Become
Founded in 1793, Lawrence Academy is a co-educational secondary boarding and day school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Relying on their widespread use of student-centered teaching, the Lawrence Academy faculty strives to help students discover strengths, talents, and personality traits in themselves that they did not know were there. The school's advising program, with its bi-weekly comment cards, redefines how students and faculty can interact on a daily basis. In addition to excellent academics and competitive athletic programs, including participation in ISL athletics, the school also offers signature programs that make Lawrence Academy unique among independent schools.
The Ninth Grade Program: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Learning
The Ninth Grade Program (NGP) at Lawrence Academy is an interdisciplinary program that aims to help students better understand how they learn and teaches them what to do with the information that they gain in educational environments. The NGP involves such activities as the Graveyard Project, the E3 Summit, and CSI, which place an emphasis on gathering and recording data, organizing and analyzing the data, and drawing inferences and conclusions that are supported by evidence.
Learning in the NGP revolves around skills essential to success in school and beyond. Beginning with the NGP, Lawrence Academy helps students develop skills such as listening, speaking, reasoning, creativity, writing, reading, and organization. Students learn through experience to listen carefully enough to a classmate or a teacher to locate sources of agreement and disagreement. At every grade level at Lawrence Academy, students are taught to think for themselves, which is part of learning about themselves.
Lawrence Academy's Winterim Program Gives Students Opportunities to Learn Experientially
For two weeks in March, Lawrence Academy does not hold regular classes. Instead, students participate in the Winterim program, Lawrence Academy's biggest commitment to learning-by-doing. In groups of 8 to 16 students who share a similar interest, students participate in various activities for unforgettable two-week educational experiences.
Some Winterim activities have included building a school in the Dominican Republic, learning to be a sports journalist, joining a traveling children's theatre troupe, kayaking in Baja, writing a novella or a play, hiking the rain forests of Costa Rica or the back roads of Ireland, and interning with a professional in the field of students' choice.
The world becomes the classroom during Winterim. New people and places become teachers. Each student's personal journey becomes his or her text. When it's over, students gather back together as a school to share pictures, exhibit the things they've made, and demonstrate the new skills they've learned.
Students are Encouraged to Take Their Education Personally by Pursuing Their Own Academic Goals
During the sophomore, junior, and senior years, Lawrence Academy helps students to develop the NGP skills at increasingly challenging levels. Students can master subject materials that prepare them for AP tests, if that is their goal; they will feel just as supported, however, if they begin work on a novella, prepare a portfolio for art school, or direct a one-act play.
Some students partner with a teacher to study a subject on their own for one, two, or all three terms in place of a Lawrence Academy class. If they are accepted into the Independent Immersion Program (IIP) as a junior or senior, they may design an entire year's curriculum for themselves. For students with a demonstrated passion or focus, scheduling their own days and studying with mentors on or off campus is nothing short of living a dream.
Thanks to the school's programs and people, along with its student-centered, community-oriented approach to learning, limits have a way of disappearing at Lawrence Academy. Teenagers at Lawrence Academy feel accepted for who they are and feel supported whenever they want to try something different.
